The Mobile Economy - GSMA Intelligence

Transcription

The Mobile Economy
India 2015
Copyright © 2015 GSM Association
THE MOBILE ECONOMY INDIA 2015
The GSMA represents the interests of mobile operators
worldwide, uniting nearly 800 operators with more
than 250 companies in the broader mobile ecosystem,
including handset and device makers, software
companies, equipment providers and internet companies,
as well as organisations in adjacent industry sectors. The
GSMA also produces industry-leading events such as
Mobile World Congress, Mobile World Congress Shanghai
and the Mobile 360 Series conferences.
For more information, please visit the GSMA corporate
website at www.gsma.com
Follow the GSMA on Twitter: @GSMA
This report is authored by GSMA Intelligence, the definitive
source of global mobile operator data, analysis and
forecasts; and a publisher of authoritative industry reports
and research. Our data covers every operator group,
network and MVNO in every country worldwide – from
Afghanistan to Zimbabwe. It is the most accurate and
complete set of industry metrics available, comprising tens
of millions of individual data points, updated daily. GSMA
Intelligence is relied on by leading operators, vendors,
regulators, financial institutions and third-party industry
players, to support strategic decision-making and longterm investment planning. The data is used as an industry
reference point and is frequently cited by the media and
by the industry itself. Our team of analysts and experts
produce regular thought-leading research reports across
a range of industry topics.
www.gsmaintelligence.com | [email protected]
Follow GSMA Intelligence on Twitter: @GSMAi
Contents
1
Executive summary
2
Indian mobile market overview
6
1.1
Second largest mobile market in Asia, but a long way from saturation
6
1.2
The rise of new ecosystem players is redefining the mobile industry in India
9
1.3
Market dynamics: a highly competitive market
11
2 The role of mobile in delivering innovation
and Digital India
14
2.1
Digital India: a government initiative to build a digital economy
15
2.2
Building Digital India through mobile
16
2.3
Innovation: mobile is changing the landscape of India’s digital industry
23
3 Mobile a key driver of growth and job creation in India
30
3.1
The economic contribution of the mobile ecosystem in 2014
31
3.2
Employment contribution of the mobile industry
34
3.3
Public funding contribution in 2014
36
3.4
Outlook and trends for 2015−2020
38
4 Regulatory enablers for Digital India
40
4.1
The fundamental importance of spectrum
41
4.2
Building the networks India needs
47
4.3
Ensuring a level playing field
50
Executive Summary
The mobile industry in India has scaled dramatically over recent
years to become one of the country’s biggest success stories.
With over half a billion mobile subscribers, the Indian market is
already the second largest in the world. Technology migration
is under way and accelerating, with more than 40% of mobile
connections forecast to be running over mobile broadband
networks by 2020.
India is already the third-largest smartphone market
in the world. There were 185 million smartphone
connections as of mid-2015, and a further half a
billion new connections will be added by 2020. The
sheer scale of this market is attracting both local and
international manufacturers, with a number of the latter
looking to shift handset manufacturing to India. A local
smartphone manufacturing ecosystem focussed on
producing low-cost but high-specification smartphones
will play a vital role in meeting the needs of local
consumers.
The Indian mobile market is unique from a global
perspective, with 12 active mobile operators. It is by
some distance the most competitive market in Asia
Pacific. Voice pricing is already low by international
standards. Although data traffic is growing strongly,
operators are handicapped in their efforts to monetise
this by the high cost of spectrum and the limited
amount of spectrum allocated for mobile services.
2
| Executive Summary
Reflecting these challenges, mobile operator revenue
growth is set to slow, with a compound annual
growth rate (CAGR) of around 6% forecast out to
2020. Operators are committed to significant capital
investment to improve mobile broadband network
coverage and capacity. Capex over the last four years
has totalled more than INR119,205 crore ($18 billion).
Despite operators’ efforts to minimise capex and
operating costs through network sharing and managed
services agreements, pressure remains on their
operating margins. A move to consolidation and more
sustainable market structures is vital if operators are
to continue to support this magnitude of investment,
deliver the ongoing improvements in network speed
and capacity, and bring connectivity to the 60% of the
Indian population that still has no access to a mobile
phone.
Mobile already makes a significant contribution to
economic growth and job creation in India. In 2014, the
mobile industry was responsible for 6.1% of India’s GDP,
a contribution that amounts to nearly INR8 lakh crore
($120 billion) of economic value added. Continued
growth in mobile internet connectivity over the coming
years means mobile’s contribution will grow at a faster
rate than the economy as a whole, generating 8.2% of
India’s GDP by 2020.
The mobile ecosystem directly provided employment
to 2.2 million people in India in 2014, of which 300,000
were in the formal economy and 1.9 million in the
informal sector. More than 800,000 new jobs will be
directly created by mobile operators and the rest of
the mobile ecosystem over the next six years, bringing
the total number of directly supported jobs in both the
formal and informal sectors to 3 million by 2020. More
than 2 million jobs will also be supported in the broader
economy.
In 2014 the industry made a contribution of INR88,000
crore ($14 billion) to the funding of the Indian
public sector, a figure that by 2020 will grow to
INR122,000 crore ($22 billion). These figures exclude
the proceedings obtained by the Indian government
through spectrum auctions. The 2014 and 2015
spectrum auctions have generated government
revenues of more than INR1.75 lakh crore ($28 billion).1
Innovative mobile solutions are helping to provide
underdeveloped, underserved and low-income
populations across the country with the opportunity
to overcome socio-economic challenges, particularly in
the areas of financial inclusion, health and education.
If both the longer term transformative potential of the
mobile ecosystem and the objectives of the Digital
India initiative are to be realised, increased broadband
capacity will be key. The quality and coverage of
a country’s telecoms infrastructure is now a key
competitive differentiator in the global economy.
Broadband connectivity is already delivering significant
benefits in markets across Asia, in both economic
and social terms. The immediate priority in India is to
attract the major investment required to further roll out
mobile broadband networks that are accessible and
affordable, which in turn requires the provision of more
internationally harmonised spectrum. Only then will the
country be able to meet the targets of the Digital India
program.
As well as increasing supply, India’s government
and telecoms operators can work together to
help overcome key barriers to demand for mobile
broadband services, such as a lack of awareness,
availability of local content and digital literacy. For
example, the public and private sectors could jointly
promote the development of appropriate skills, and
make available a broad selection of digital content in
local languages, including e-government services.
Now is the time to create a forward-looking, flexible
and fair regulatory and licensing framework that will
attract the investment India’s digital economy needs.
If they work together, India’s policy-makers and the
mobile industry can deliver a Digital India.
The Digital India initiative, which looks to empower 1
billion subscribers by providing Internet access to all
and make broadband a utility for every citizen, has
broad support in the telecoms industry. To date, there
has been too much emphasis on employing fibre
and unlicensed spectrum, rather than harnessing the
potential of mobile technologies and services to cover
the last mile. Mobile operators and the broader mobile
ecosystem have the capacity to make a much greater
contribution and are seeking a greater role in the overall
program.
1. Conversions to US dollars based on spot rate for September 2015
Executive Summary |
3
MOBILE ECONOMY
INDIA
Unique subscribers and SIM connections
CONNECTIONS*
2014
453m
*Excluding M2M
2014
36% PENETRATION RATE
2020
734m
944m
2020
1.3bn
8.4% CAGR 2014-20
5.5% CAGR 2014-20
Accelerating moves to mobile broadband networks and smartphone adoption
Mobile broadband connections to increase
Smartphones
42% 690m
2014
11%
149m
2020
2014
2020
Data traffic to grow by a CAGR of 66%
over the period 2014-2019
By 2020, there will be 690m
smartphones, growth of 541m
from the end of 2014
Data growth driving revenues and operator investments
2020
2015
Operator recurring revenues
INR1.8
lakh crore
INR2.5
lakh crore
2014-20
6%
CAGR
Capex over the last four years
totalled more than
INR119,205
2014-20
CRORE
Mobile contributing to economic and social development in India
Delivering digital
inclusion to the still
unconnected populations
Delivering financial
inclusion to the
unbanked populations
Delivering innovative
new service and apps
Mobile internet
penetration 22% in 2014,
44% in 2020
14 live services in the
country as of June 2015
Number of M2M
connections to reach
25m by 2020
Mobile industry contribution to GDP
2014
INR7.7
lakh crore
2014
6.1%
GDP
Public funding
2020
INR14
lakh crore
8.2% GDP in 2020
Employment
Jobs directly supported by
mobile ecosystem
2.2m JOBS
2014
INR88,000 CRORE
2020
INR122,000 CRORE
Mobile ecosystem contribution to public
funding before spectrum proceeds
3m JOBS
2014
2020
Plus an additional 2 MILLION
indirect jobs supported by 2020
1
Indian mobile
market overview
1.1 Second largest mobile market in Asia, but
a long way from saturation
India had 482 million unique subscribers2 and nearly
1 billion connections3 (excluding M2M) as of the second
quarter of 2015. It is the second biggest mobile market
in the world in terms of subscribers, second only to
China. The Indian market accounts for a quarter of Asia
Pacific’s unique subscribers and connections, and 13%
of the global subscriber base.
However, India has a unique subscriber penetration
of less than 40%, slightly below the regional average
figure of 46%. This underscores the longer term
subscriber growth potential in the market, but also the
challenge for both operators and policy-makers in the
country to connect the unconnected populations.
Source: GSMA Intelligence
Subscriber and connecton penetration rates, Q2 2015
98%
92%
76%
51%
46%
38%
India
Asia Pacific
Subscriber penetration
Global
Connection penetration
2. Total unique users who have subscribed to mobile services at the end of the period.
3. Total unique SIM cards (or phone numbers, where SIM cards are not used), excluding cellular M2M, that have been registered on the mobile network at the end of the period.
6
| Indian mobile market overview
India will add 250 million new subscribers over the
period to 2020, equivalent to nearly half of the
forecast subscriber growth in Asia Pacific over the
next five years. As a result, India’s share of total
subscribers in the region will rise to 30% by the end
of this decade, while unique subscriber penetration
will grow by 17 percentage points. Subscriber growth
will be significantly faster than in the broader region,
narrowing the penetration gap with the regional
average.
Unique subscriber growth in India
57%
54%
33%
21%
250
2010
406
295
2011
453
506
562
619
660
697
734
323
2012
Unique
subscribers (M)
2013
2014
2015
2016
India
2017
2018
2019
2020
Asia Pacific
Indian mobile market overview |
7
1.1.1 The move to 3G is accelerating, helped by
network sharing
The migration to higher speed 3G services has
continued apace since the formal launch of 3G
services in India in 2009. 3G accounts for 12% of total
connections and will rise to almost 40% by the end of
this decade. Operators have significantly reduced the
cost of 3G data services since launch, and together
with the rapid expansion of 3G network coverage these
have been crucial to the growth of 3G connections
in India. Network sharing has played a key role in
increasing network coverage cost-effectively. In a little
over five years since the launch of the first commercial
3G network in India, 3G network coverage has now
reached three-quarters of the population.
Technology mix: percentage of total connections
0%
1%
2%
4G
39%
3G
59%
2G
99%
2010
8
2011
2012
2013
2014
2015
2016
2017
2018
2019
2020
The growth trajectory of 3G services in India mirrors
that of many other countries in the region, despite
the relatively late arrival of the technology. However,
to date the Indian market has seen limited rollout and
adoption of LTE/4G networks. As of mid-2015, less
than 1% of connections in India were running over 4G
networks, compared to the regional average of more
than 11%.
affordable 4G devices. Airtel has expanded its 4G
services to 296 cities across the country, with services
priced at the same level as 3G. Airtel is using the 2300
MHz band, as will new entrant Reliance Jio, which
aims to build out its network to initially cover more
than 5,000 towns and cities. Other operators such as
Vodafone and Idea are in the process of launching 4G
using 1800 MHz spectrum.
An obstacle to the take-up of 4G in India has been the
lack of relevant spectrum (both the right spectrum
bands and amount of spectrum licensed). The lack
of affordable, harmonised spectrum in the sub-1 GHz
coverage bands has been a major factor in limiting
the deployment of 4G networks in India, along with
the high cost of spectrum, which makes it difficult for
operators to build a viable business case for investment
in network deployments.
The continued migration to mobile broadband services,
more affordable tariffs and devices, and growing
uptake of new apps and services are all driving strong
data traffic growth in India. Airtel’s mobile data traffic
grew by 95% in the year to September 2014, and
Reliance Communications recorded data traffic growth
of 75% over the same period. According to the latest
Cisco Visual Networking Index (VNI) forecast, annual
mobile data traffic in India will grow 13-fold between
2014 and 2019, a CAGR of 66%.
However, a number of operators have launched (or
are about to launch) 4G services, and domestic and
international manufacturers have released more
1.2 The rise of new ecosystem players is
redefining the mobile industry in India
Local ecosystem players have emerged across different parts
of the mobile value chain, notably device manufacturing and
content development, to compete with established global
players operating in the market. The main attraction for
the products and services developed by these firms is their
tendency to address pertinent challenges faced by the local
consumer, especially around content, usability and cost.
9
1.2.1 Local device vendors are helping to
accelerate smartphone adoption
Smartphones account for around 20% of total mobile
connections in the Indian market, lower than the
regional average of 40%. However, in absolute terms,
India is already the third-largest smartphone market
globally, with 185 million connections as of mid-2015.
The main challenges faced by local consumers looking
to upgrade from feature phones to smartphones
are the cost of devices and the affordability of data
services. The sheer size of the smartphone market has
already attracted a range of local and international
manufacturers; several overseas manufacturers
have announced plans to shift production to the
Indian market. The emergence of a local smartphone
manufacturing ecosystem focussed on producing
low-cost smartphones will play a vital role in meeting
the demand for higher specification devices, a
development that is in line with the government’s ‘Make
in India’ drive to encourage local manufacturing. This is
already having a significant impact on the market: the
average selling price (ASP) of smartphones in India has
almost halved since 2011, to less than INR15,000 in 2015.
Despite the notable rise in smartphone adoption since
the launch of 3G networks, feature phones remain an
essential part of the mobile landscape that will be vital
to connecting the large rural population.
Smartphone adoption on the increase
Percentage of connections
98%
53%
47%
2%
2010
2020
Smartphone connections
10
Feature phone connections
1.3 Market dynamics: a highly competitive
market
India’s mobile market is highly competitive; it has 12
active mobile operators and a Herfindahl-Hirschman
Index4 (HHI) of less than 2,000. India is by some way
the most competitive of the 20 largest markets in AsiaPacific. The country is divided into 22 telecoms zones,
called ‘circles’, with the number of operators present in
each circle ranging from six to 10. Reliance Jio plans to
launch commercial operations by the end of 2015. The
operator has a nationwide unified licence and plans to
provide 4G services across the 22 circles.
Competitive intensity is high in India
6,000
5,000
12
4,000
8
China
6
Thailand
Myanmar
6
Taiwan
Australia
5
Nepal
Korea, South
5
Cambodia
New Zealand
5
Vietnam
3
5
Hong Kong
3
5
Sri Lanka
3
Philippines
3
4
Singapore
3
4
5
Japan
7
2,000
1,000
8
Bangladesh
3,000
Malaysia
9
Number of operators
Market competition has caused prices to drop. Call
tariffs in India are now among the lowest in the world.
India had the fourth lowest subscriber ARPU in Asia
Pacific as of the second quarter of 2015. While the
impact of low tariffs is partially offset by relatively high
India
Pakistan
Indonesia
0
HHI (Q2 2015)
voice usage (India has the second highest minutes
of use – MOU – after China, in Asia Pacific with 376
minutes), there is limited scope for MOU to rise further
due to the growing use of online communication
services provided by internet players.
4. HHI: A commonly accepted measure of market concentration, represented on a scale of 0 (evenly distributed competition) to 10,000 (no competition)
11
1.3.1 Competition and new messaging services
continue to weigh on revenue growth
Revenue growth in India’s mobile market has
moderated significantly over the last decade from
more than 30% in the mid-2000s to single digits in
the last three years. In 2014, operators recorded total
revenue of $29.8 billion, a 6% increase on the previous
year. Recurring revenue growth has seen the biggest
decline in recent years, driven by a combination
of intense price competition and the increasing
cannibalisation of operators’ traditional services by
online communications services. Recurring revenue
growth will pick up in 2017, partly due to forecast
connections growth over the next two years, but will
trend downwards again in the latter part of this decade
due to slowing subscriber growth and the ongoing
impact of competitive pressures.
Indian mobile operator revenue trends
17%
50
45
40
$ billion
35
11%
30
25
10%
8%
20
7%
15
6%
6%
5%
10
5%
4%
5
3%
0
2010
2011
2012
Recurring revenue
12
2013
2014
2015
2016
Non-recurring revenue
2017
2018
2019
Total revenue growth (%)
2020
Although the uptake of smartphones provides
an opportunity for data revenue growth, mobile
operators in India have so far reported limited revenue
contribution from data services. One challenge for
operators is the need to recover the high costs of
spectrum; operators bid around $18 billion in the latest
round of spectrum auctions in March 2015. Competitive
pressures and low income levels also mitigate against
the ability of operators to pass these costs onto
consumers. As a proportion of recurring revenues,
average data service revenues are slightly below 15%,
compared to more than 30% in advanced countries in
the region. The challenge for operators is to continue to
monetise the growth in data traffic and the uptake of
data-centric services by consumers.
Over recent years, operators have also made significant
investments in building out mobile coverage and
upgrading to mobile broadband; capex over the last
four years totalled in excess of $18 billion. Capex is likely
to increase going forward, as operators invest further
in network coverage and increasingly in 4G network
deployments. Capex levels in India are also influenced
by the absence of efficient spectrum allocations,
which makes it more capital intensive to add network
capacity. Several operators including Idea Cellular and
Bharti Airtel have recently increased their guidance for
capex levels for the current financial year.
1.3.2 Margin erosion and spectrum costs are
likely to stimulate market consolidation
Despite operators’ efforts to minimise capex and
operating costs through network sharing and managed
services agreements, there is growing pressure on their
operating margins due to sluggish revenue growth
and competitive challenges. EBITDA margins have also
come under pressure from the cost requirements of
coverage expansion to underserved areas. Although
there has been some recovery in margins over recent
years, they remain below the developing market
average. The outlook remains uncertain, with a new
entrant launching and the possible introduction of
MVNOs to further increase competitive intensity.
Competition has played an important role in making
mobile services affordable to end users over recent
years. However, operators may need to move to more
sustainable business models through consolidation if
they are to justify the high levels of investment required
to support mobile broadband network expansion.
Unlike India, the majority of emerging markets have
only three or four mobile operators, as is also the
case in Europe and the US. Although regulators and
policy-makers in many markets have been concerned
about the impact of consolidation, research by Frontier
Economics for the GSMA has highlighted that the right
market structures can incentivise mobile broadband
investments that deliver both lower unit prices and
improved quality5. The research found that the main
driver of lower prices in emerging markets over the
last ten years has been investment, rather than market
competition. Ensuring that the industry structure
supports investment in mobile markets should be an
important aim for policy-makers.
The large number of operators in India also limits the
amount of spectrum available to each operator. The
resulting spectrum scarcity in a highly fragmented
market leads to higher network deployment costs,
as operators need to build more cell sites to improve
service quality. The market will only consolidate if
regulatory policies enable such an environment,
particularly around issues such as spectrum transfer.
5. Assessing the case for in-country mobile consolidation in emerging markets, GSMA, 2015
13
2
The role of mobile in
delivering innovation
and Digital India
The Indian mobile industry has come a long way since the first mobile call
was made in 1995 – from mobile phone ownership being viewed as a luxury
to becoming a utility. The Indian mobile industry is already helping to
deliver a growing and innovative mobile ecosystem, which is transforming
not only how people communicate but increasingly how they do business.
The India government has recognised the potential of digital technologies
to address some of the socio-economic challenges in the country with
the launch of its Digital India initiative. This looks to empower 1 billion
subscribers by providing Internet access to all and make broadband a
utility for every citizen. The lack of alternative (fixed line) infrastructure in
the country means that mobile technology will play a central role in the
realisation of the Digital India initiative.
14
| The role of mobile in delivering innovation and Digital India
2.1 Digital India: a government initiative to
build a digital economy
Digital India pulls together many existing schemes that
will be restructured and re-focussed for greater impact.
Under the plan, the government has identified three
key areas and nine pillars as shown in the chart
Source: GSMA Intelligence, Department of Electronics and Information Technology, India
Building Digital India through mobile
DIG
ITA
LI
NF
RA
S
DIGITAL
EMP
OW
ER
ME
NT
Digital
identity
Participative
governance through
mobiles
Financial
inclusion
Local
content
RE
TU
UC
TR
High-speed
mobile
broadband
Public cloud
infrastructure
three
vision areas
Digital
locker
Secure cyber
space
Integrated government
departments
Digital
literacy
Mobile enabled
realtime e-Gov
services
Geographic
information
systems
Cashless financial
transactions
ND
MA
E
N- D
GOV
ERNMENT & SERVICES O
Nine pillars
IT for jobs
Ongoing and new
schemes
Broadband
Highways
Public Internet
Access Programme
Broadband for all
Ongoing programme
eKranti
Universal Access to
Mobile connectivity
Ongoing programme to
be revamped with new
elements
Ongoing programme
Electronics
Manufacturing
Existing structures
inadequate
Information for all
Utilise existing
infrastructure
e-Governance
Critical for
transformation
Early harvest
programmes
To be completed
within a year
The role of mobile in delivering innovation and Digital India |
15
This programme was envisaged by the Department
of Electronics and Information Technology (DeitY),
which will be responsible for overall coordination of
the project. The government is playing an active role
in the implementation of Digital India, with the Prime
Minister of India heading the monitoring committee,
along with an advisory group chaired by the Minister
of Communications & IT and an apex committee
chaired by the Cabinet Secretary. The government has
estimated that the overall cost of implementing the
programme could amount to nearly INR100,000 crore
for ongoing schemes and around INR13,000 crore for
new schemes and activities.
Mobile operators in India have already taken steps to
participate in the implementation of Digital India. In
July 2015, operators including Airtel, Reliance Group
and Aditya Birla Group (Idea Cellular), committed to
investing INR450,000 crore in network rollout, and
broadband and Wi-Fi deployment to facilitate the
delivery of various services under the initiative. Mobile
technology and the activities of key ecosystem players,
including operators, handset manufacturers and
content developers, are all helping realise the Digital
India initiative.
However, mobile operators and the broader mobile
ecosystem have the capacity to make a much greater
contribution and are seeking a greater role in the overall
program. In particular, the wider deployment of mobile
broadband, and more affordable mobile services, will
be key in allowing the country to meet the targets of
the program.
2.2 Building Digital India through mobile
2.2.1 Digital inclusion
Mobile technology will play a major role in realising the
Digital India vision, with mobile already the dominant
platform for internet access in the country. There is a
lack of alternative infrastructure, with fixed broadband
penetration in India standing at only 2.5%. In contrast,
60−90% of the population (depending on the circle)
have access to at least a 2G service. The increasing
deployment of higher speed mobile broadband
technologies is supporting a variety of feature-rich
content and value-added services. By working closely
with mobile operators, the government is more likely to
realise the goals of the Digital India programme.
The number of individuals accessing the internet over
mobile devices has expanded from less than 100 million
subscribers in 2010 to nearly 300 million at the end
of 2014. The penetration of mobile internet has seen a
more than threefold increase over this period, reaching
24% of the population by mid-2015. This figure will
almost double again in the next five years to reach 44%
of the population by 2020, with around 600 million
mobile internet subscribers by this date.
However, despite the impressive progress, this will still
leave a huge digital divide in the country. By the end
of the decade, more than half of the population will
still lack internet access, with most of the excluded
population living in rural areas. There is also an
important gender gap to be addressed; women in India
are 36% less likely to own a mobile phone than men6,
which equates to 114 million Indian women.
6. Bridging the gender gap: Barriers to mobile access and usage in low- and middle-income countries, GSMA, 2015
16
The GSMA launched its Digital Inclusion programme in April 2014 to help expand mobile connectivity and to
increase mobile internet adoption by addressing the key barriers to mobile internet access, both in India and
across the world:
• Network infrastructure and policy: increasing network coverage to currently unserved areas.
• Affordability and taxation: the combination of low incomes, cost of devices, charging fees, and data plan
payments creates an affordability barrier to accessing the mobile internet. This issue is compounded by
government taxes and fees, such as airtime and handset taxes.
• Digital literacy and local content: Illiteracy, digital illiteracy and lack of internet awareness are challenges to
mobile internet adoption. The availability of content that is both in the local language and locally relevant can
play a vital role in the adoption of the mobile internet.
Mobile internet trends in India
44%
592
336
279
227
7%
85
2010
123
2011
160
2012
2013
Mobile internet
connections (millions)
2014
2015
2020
Mobile internet
penetration
17
2.2.1.1 Building network infrastructure in
underserved areas
Network coverage remains a key barrier to further
increasing mobile internet access in India, with much
of the still unconnected population living in rural or
remote areas. Nearly 70% of the Indian population
lives in villages, but overall urban teledensity (mobile
and fixed line) is still significantly higher than in rural
areas. According to the Ministry of Communication and
Information Technology, nearly 10% of Indian villages
had no mobile coverage from any of India’s mobile
operators as of March 2015. The majority of these are in
the states of Odisha, Arunachal Pradesh, Jharkhand and
Madhya Pradesh.7 Rural coverage is lower for mobile
broadband networks, therefore excluding a significant
proportion of the population from the benefits of
mobile internet that can transform their lives.
A combination of a difficult terrain, characterised by
mountains and sparsely populated farmlands, high
energy costs and low income levels often makes
it uneconomical for mobile operators to expand
coverage to rural communities using conventional
network deployment strategies. A recent report by the
GSMA analysed three broad strategies to address the
coverage gap, namely network sharing, government
support and alternative technologies (such as drones,
balloons or satellites)8. The first two are particularly
relevant to the Indian market.
One strategy that has proved successful in India is
voluntary network sharing (passive and active). India
was one of the first countries in Asia to adopt network
sharing, with the Department of Telecommunications
modifying operators’ licence conditions in 2007 to
allow passive sharing, and again in 2008 to allow
7. 10% of Indian villages have no mobile coverage, TeleGeography, 2015
8. Closing the network ‘coverage gaps’ in Asia, GSMA Intelligence, 2015
18
active sharing. The Tower and Infrastructure Providers
Association (TIPA), a body representing telecoms tower
companies (towercos), estimates that India needs
a minimum of 200,000 additional towers to ensure
robust connectivity for voice calls and data services,
which at an average cost of INR5 lakh per tower will
require investment of about INR10,000 crore to bridge
the coverage gap.
A number of towercos such as Bharti Infratel, Indus
Towers, Viom Networks and Reliance Infratel have since
emerged as key players in the infrastructure market,
controlling 70% of the overall tower count of around
400,000. Tower sharing has stimulated investment and
competition in India’s tower market, with a four-fold
increase in the number of towers between 2007 and
2014. For the operators, this has resulted in significant
capex and opex savings, as well as considerable
improvements in quality of service as passive and
active network sharing have helped boost capacity in
areas of high demand.
Aside from tower sharing, mobile operators are
employing a variety of solutions to tackle the challenge
of off-grid connectivity, including the use of green
options such as solar, wind, water, biomass and fuel
cells to power cell sites in remote communities. Such
alternative energy sources can significantly reduce
energy costs, which are the biggest cost component
in off-grid cell sites that rely on diesel generators. For
example, Idea Cellular has been pioneering the use of
renewable energy, particularly solar, to power offgrid cell sites and so reduce both costs and carbon
emissions.
2.2.1.2 Making mobile internet affordable
While network coverage is key to making services
available, take-up of these services is affected by their
cost. A report by telecoms regulator TRAI shows that
rural consumers spend considerably less than their
urban counterparts on mobile services, mainly due to
affordability issues9.
The cost of ownership of a mobile phone (which covers
all the costs associated with both owning a phone and
accessing mobile services10) is a key factor in mobile
internet adoption, particularly in India where nearly
one-third of the population (360 million people) lives
below the poverty line. Data tariffs in India, at 0.5−0.7
cents per MB, are among the lowest in the world, but
a significant proportion of the population is unable
to afford this for regular internet use due to low
disposable incomes.
Aside from data tariffs, the declining cost of
smartphones bodes well for smartphone adoption in
India. Around 20% of mobile connections in the country
are now smartphone-based, and this is expected to
rise to more than 50% by 2020. The growing number
of local handset manufacturers, as well as the presence
of international players focused on the lower-end price
segments, should further improve handset affordability.
Taxation can act as a barrier to improving the
affordability of services, as taxes on mobile services for
consumers increase their price, while sector-specific
levies on operators (including the high cost of spectrum
in India) reduce the funds available for investment.
9. Telecoms Sector in India: A Decadal Profile, TRAI, 2012
10. These cost components include handset costs, connection costs and average costs for calls, SMS and data usage, including the taxes levied on them
19
2.2.1.3 Increasing digital literacy and local
content
Consumer literacy (basic, digital, internet and mobile
internet)11 is essential to understanding a mobile
phone’s user interface, reading its display and using its
keyboard. Nationally, almost a quarter of Indian adults
do not know how to read and write. Eleven states in
the country, accounting for more than half of India’s
population, have literacy levels that are below the
national average. The Internet and Mobile Association
of India (IAMAI) estimates that almost 90% of the
country’s population is digitally illiterate. A recent
report from GSMA Connected Women reported that
Indian women also have lower levels of digital literacy
and confidence than men. For example, 38% of female
respondents were worried about making mistakes and
losing money on their phone while using a new function
and 34% of females did not know how to use a mobile
or use the more complex features.
There are 22 officially recognised languages in India
and, according to a report by IAMAI, 45 million users
access content in their local language, equivalent
to more than a third of active internet users. Mobile
operators and ecosystem players have begun to
address this challenge. For example, Google has
created the Indian Language Internet Alliance, in
partnership with news and media companies in the
country, to attract Hindi-speaking users to the Web.
Meanwhile, Micromax is working with local app
developers to increase the number of local language
apps.
“The Internet is not of use to me.
I would rather spend my money on
a gas cylinder − it’s more useful. It’s a
hobby for people with big money who
want to buy shoes and shirts, and chat”
A non-user, rural India
Source: Mobile internet usage challenges in Asia — awareness,
literacy and local content, GSMA 2015
11. Digital Inclusion, GSMA, 2014
12. Mobile internet usage challenges in Asia — awareness, literacy and local content, GSMA Intelligence, 2015
20
The digital divide in India is compounded by a lack of
awareness about the benefits of the internet. A recent
report by GSMA Intelligence and the GSMA Digital
Inclusion programme showed that many non-users
lack awareness of internet uses and available content.
Consequently, they do not feel the internet is relevant
or useful to them, and associate the utility of the
internet with just entertainment, passing time and
posturing.12 Creating awareness around the benefits
of the internet and the availability of useful services
covering a wide range of subjects, such as agriculture,
education and healthcare, is crucial to bringing more
people online.
Operators are playing an active role in addressing
these challenges. For example, Uninor (now Telenor
India) launched the ‘Internet on Wheels’ initiative to
educate people about the benefits of the internet and
increase adoption of mobile internet in rural areas in
India. A branded van will be travelling across rural areas
of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar & Jharkhand, Andhra Pradesh,
Maharashtra and Gujarat to teach customers about the
mobile internet, how to access it on feature phones,
how to navigate on a smartphone and how data
packages work.
Telenor India has also opened more than 200 customer
education hubs (Grahak Shiksha Kendras) to train
customers on mobile services. These centres will act as
knowledge and awareness centres where existing and
potential customers can get information on Telenor
India’s voice and internet services. In these hubs,
any query related to mobile phones can be resolved.
Telenor India developed an in-house curriculum to train
the customer relationship executives, 50% of whom are
women, at the hubs. Telenor India plans to increase the
number of hubs to 500 by the end of 2015.
Idea has been running various campaigns at a national
level to educate people on the potential of the mobile
internet and to make it more relevant to individuals’
lives. This has been supplemented by campaigns at a
regional and local level, with the company providing
mobile-based training on using the internet.
In the southern state of Karnataka, Idea organised a
programme called ‘Idea Internet Santhe’, conducting
events across 10 small towns and making available
activated data-bundled SIM cards for users. In another
region the company launched ‘Idea Buddy’, a form
of talent contest aimed at college students to find
the individuals with the highest levels of internet
knowledge. A key element of the programme was
workshop sessions that explained the various aspects
of the internet. The company also targeted colleges
that had a large population of students from lower
income groups, as well as female-only colleges, to
address the lower uptake of mobile internet and data
services in these groups.
The government in India is also playing an active role.
The National Digital Literacy Mission aims to provide
ICT training to 1 million people initially − one in every
eligible household in selected ‘blocks’ in each state
of the country. Around 90% of these will be entitled
to government support for training fees, with the rest
supported by industry players and NGOs.
2.2.2 Mobile delivering financial inclusion
Financial inclusion is still a significant challenge in
India. According to World Bank Findex data (2014),
nearly half of the adult population in India do not have
a bank account and over 90% of the villages do not
have a commercial bank branch. The absence of formal
banking services is a key reason behind the reliance
on an informal cash-based economy, which is typically
unsafe, inconvenient and expensive. Mobile technology
is being used in more than 89 countries across the
globe to deliver secure, convenient and affordable
financial services to the unbanked. In India, mobile
technology is crucial to two key areas of the Digital
India initiative:
• providing infrastructure as a utility to citizens to
support mobile money and mobile-enabled bank
accounts
• making governance and services available
on-demand by making financial transactions
electronic and cashless.
Only 2.4% of adults in India currently have a mobile
money account, compared to nearly 6% in Pakistan and
an average of 2.6% in South Asia. In the past, regulatory
barriers have prevented the mobile money industry in
India from realising its full potential. However, Indian
mobile operators are well equipped to help address the
challenges around financial inclusion, building on their
existing relationships with customers, their experience
of managing distribution across more than 2 million
point-of-sale outlets in India, and their control over the
SIM card and data channels.
Recent regulations issued by the Reserve Bank of
India (RBI)13 for differentiated bank licences aim to
‘further financial inclusion by providing (i) small savings
accounts and (ii) payments/remittance services to the
migrant labour workforce, low income households,
small businesses, other unorganised sector entities
and other users, by enabling high-volume, low-value
transactions in deposits and payments/remittance
services in a secured technology-driven environment.’
In August 2015, the RBI granted ‘in-principle approval’
to 11 applicants to set up payment banks, out of which
five have mobile operators at their core: Aditya Birla
Nuvo (Idea), Airtel M Commerce Services, Reliance
Industries (Reliance Jio), Dilip Shanghvi (Telenor India)
and Vodafone mPesa. The approval is valid for a period
of 18 months, during which time the applicants will
have to comply with requirements and guidelines to
obtain the full licence and begin banking business.
Furthermore, the government has now prioritised
financial inclusion in the country through ‘Pradhan
Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana’ (literally translated as the
‘Prime Minister’s Public Wealth Scheme’), which was
launched in August 2014 and saw more than 160 million
savings accounts opened within a year. It is important
to note here that financial inclusion does not stop at
merely opening accounts. It is also necessary to ensure
that the underserved population are able to transact in
a safe and convenient manner under the scheme.
13. Guidelines for Licensing of Payments Banks, Reserve Bank of India
21
2.2.3 Digital identity
The Indian government is keen to increase the level
of interaction with its citizens through the efficient
delivery of public services, the timely dissemination
of relevant information, and citizens’ participation in
government through feedback on various public and
private services. The first step in this process is for the
government to provide India’s 1.2 billion population with
an official identity to have accurate data throughout
the lifetime of every individual, from birth registration
and healthcare services during childhood, through
education, employment and tax services during school
and working age, and pensions and social benefits in
retirement.
To achieve this, the Indian government launched
the Aadhaar project, the world’s largest national
identification project, in 2010 to authenticate the
identity of citizens through a unique identification
number. This is stored in a centralised database and
linked to both demographic and biometric information.
Nearly 800 million identification numbers, equivalent to
70% of the population, had been issued as of June 2015.
Furthermore, more than 100 million bank accounts
have been linked to Aadhaar ID numbers, enabling
the government to electronically transfer social aid to
beneficiaries’ bank accounts, cutting down wastage in
social security schemes. The acceptance of Aadhaar
as a valid form of ID by state agencies will form the
foundation for the government’s plans to enable mobile
banking and other digital services by linking citizens’
mobile numbers to their Aadhaar numbers.
‘Aadhaar number, mobile number
and bank account number are the
three important pillars of the Digital
India programme. We will link all of
them together to provide a flawless
solution, where people can easily
perform transactions using their
mobile phones.’
RS Sharma, Former Secretary, Department of
Electronics & Information Technology, India
22
Mobile operators can play an important role in
supporting the government’s digital identity efforts
through solutions that leverage the high level of trust
they enjoy among customers. One such solution is
the GSMA-backed authentication solution, Mobile
Connect. The solution enables mobile phone users to
conveniently create and manage a universal identity
that will securely and safely allow them to access
mobile and digital services such as e-commerce,
banking, health and entertainment, as well as
e-government portals, via their mobile phones.
‘I dream of a Digital India where ICTenabled citizen-government interface
is incorruptible.’
Prime Minister Narendra Modi
Through the deployment of Mobile Connect in India,
mobile operators wish to further enhance and enable
the active use and security of the country’s digital
ecosystem in a way that respects individuals’ personal
data. In doing so, operators plan to establish a new
position in the digital ecosystem that creates a new
authentication and personal data business based on
providing value and building trust with the consumer.
2.3 Innovation: mobile is changing the
landscape of India’s digital industry
Increasing mobile broadband network coverage and
growing smartphone adoption are driving the uptake
and use of new applications and services on mobile
phones. Social media and online communications
applications are examples of services that have grown
rapidly in recent years. A growing proportion of the
Indian population now access social media sites on
mobile phones, with platforms such as Facebook,
Twitter and Whatsapp proving popular. Social media
sites were widely used for political campaigning in the
last general election.
India is now at an inflexion point in terms of the digital
transformation of the economy, with local tech startups growing throughout the country.
Evolution of mobile industry in India
Feature phone era
Smartphone era
Voice
calls
Towards a hyper-connected future
Social
media
Mobile
commerce
Big
data
Internet of
Things
M2M, Smart cities
App
economy
SMS
Digital
societies
Multimedia
messages
Sharing
economy
IP messaging
1995
1998
2000
2002
2009/10
2012
2015
First
mobile
call
First
Indian
ringtone
First
phone
with Hindi
menu
First
camera
phone
First 3G
launch
First 4G
launch
Government
launches M2M
roadmap
Much of rural and under-connected
population in this phase: still almost
a decade behind
Most urban and semi-urban
India in this phase
The future of Digital India
- inclusive growth
23
2.3.1 Mobile commerce
The online commerce market in India has seen
significant growth in recent years, growing at a CAGR
of 34% over the period 2009−2014 to reach a total
value of $16 billion in 2014. This is expected to reach
$22 billion by the end of 201514. Growth has been
fuelled by rising disposable income levels as well as
increasing internet access.
Mobile commerce has changed the face of the Indian
online commerce industry in the last two years. Mobile
accounted for more than 40% of total e-commerce
sales in 2014, led by travel and retail services, compared
to less than 20% in the UK and the US15. Developing
a mobile (sometimes mobile-only) strategy has been
top of the agenda for many of the leading e-commerce
players in the country over the last two to three years.
Source: Various websites, Business Standard, Economic Times
41% of India’s e-commerce sales in 2014 over mobile
JAPAN
RUSSIA
7%
US
13%
AUSTRALIA
15%
20%
FRANCE
20%
CHINA
33%
14. Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI), CRISIL, Gartner, PwC analysis and industry experts
15. Kleiner Perkins Caufield and Byers (KPCB)
24
14%
BRAZIL
17%
UK
GERMANY
20%
India
41%
2.3.2 Internet of Things
The Internet of Things (IoT) describes the coordination
of multiple machines, devices and applications
connected to the internet by multiple networks.
Mobile is expected to be a key enabling technology
for IoT, acting as an aggregator or hub to connect a
range of devices and offering wide-area connectivity.
Forecasts from Machina suggest that the total number
of connected IoT devices in India, using a range of
different technologies, could reach more than 1 billion
by 2020. This is expected to be led by the utilities,
automotive, transport & logistics and financial services
sectors. There is also likely to be an important role in
improving access to government services. According
to a study by the Department of Electronics and
Information Technology (DeitY), the value of the
IoT industry in India could reach $15 billion by 2020,
equivalent to 5–6% of the overall global IoT industry.16
India is the third biggest market in Asia Pacific in
terms of machine-to-machine (M2M) connections. The
total number of cellular M2M connections in India will
increase at a CAGR of 40% for the period 2014−2020.
16. Growth of Internet Users in India and its Impact on our life, data.gov.in
25
Cellular M2M connections in India
Million
25
18
13
3
2
0
1
1
2010
2011
2012
2013
2014
5
2015
7
2016
9
2017
2018
2019
2020
Cellular M2M connections in selected countries
Million
Indonesia
South Korea
India
Japan
China
Asia Pacific
3
10
3
9
3
25
11
30
69
336
96
440
2014
26
2020
M2M is central to the Indian government’s overall
digitisation objectives. The government has
released a roadmap for M2M communications that
includes initiatives such as releasing a national M2M
numbering plan in 2015, forming an M2M service
provider registration process, and issuing guidelines
for SIM transfer and international roaming. The
government will also include M2M devices in
the Preferential Market Access policy that gives
additional weight to indigenously made products to
support the ‘Make in India’ agenda.
The M2M roadmap feeds into the government’s
plan to transform around 100 existing cities into
smart cities. In April 2015, the Cabinet approved the
initiative and a five-year budget of INR48 billion.
As part of the project, each selected city will get
INR1 billion every year for five years from the central
government, while state and local governments
will be required to match these resources by at
least 50%. Smart cities will be selected based on
their ability to improve quality of life and provide a
sustainable environment by using technology.
Mobile operators in India have supported the
implementation of M2M technology by providing
basic connectivity and helping bring innovative
M2M solutions to market. The need to improve
cost efficiencies and address logistical challenges
in the second most populous country in the world
will help drive the M2M market to the next phase
of development. However, effective policy making
and regulations, along with innovative and scalable
business models, need to be in place to help achieve
these goals and create new revenue streams for
stakeholders.
‘M2M has great potential to transform
India and is going to be a key enabler
for the government vision of Digital
India, Make in India and proposed
smart cities in India.’
Ravi Shankar Prasad, Minister for Communications
& Information Technology
“When the government’s 100 Smart
City project, Digital India plan and
Smart Energy project get executed, the
kind of expected IoT devices that will
be in India for deployment would be in
excess of multiple millions in three to
five years.”
KS Viswanathan, Vice President for Industry
Initiatives at Nasscom
27
2.3.3 Improving access to basic services
through innovative mobile applications
Mobile technology can play an important role in improving
access to basic services that can empower individuals living in
hard-to-reach communities across India. The majority of India’s
population lives in these areas, but in many areas the lack of
basic infrastructure excludes them from several public services
that can generally improve their wellbeing.
With a wide range of pressures and demands on government
budgets, mobile technology has emerged as a vital tool in
providing services to people in currently underserved areas. The
range, content and specification of mobile-enabled services have
expanded considerably in the last few years.
Agriculture: Reuters Market Light (myRML)
myRML uses mobile technology to help Indian farmers make informed decisions.
It provides easy access to personalized and unbiased agriculture insights, and
the latest updates on market prices, weather, news, and crop advice based on
their location and in their preferred language. The service is available in nine
languages: Hindi, Bengali, Gujarati, Kannada, Marathi, Punjabi, Tamil, Telugu and
English.
Utilities: NextDrop
NextDrop provides water supply alerts to residents in the twin towns of
Hubli-Dharwad in Bangalore, using a simple Android app. With the support
of the Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board and GSMA Mobile for
Development Utilities funding, this system has been deployed across 40% of
Bangalore. NextDrop is already providing more than 75,000 people in HubliDharwad with timely and reliable information about their water supply.
28
Women safety: FightBack
The app FightBack enables users to quickly send an alert in an emergency.
By pressing a simple button (and then confirming), SOS SMS and emails, GPS
coordinates, and location maps are automatically sent to preselected contacts.
The app has had more than 100,000 downloads and is now available in 22 Indian
states, providing a sense of security for women and other vulnerable people.
Encouraging women to use mobile: Project Sampark
Uninor (now Telenor India) launched Project Sampark in August 2014 with a pilot
phase covering up to 370,000 people in the Aligarh district. It aims to address
the barriers that discourage women from accessing mobile phone services.
The project includes marketing and awareness campaigns, and using women
promoters to sell mobile services. The Bandhan pack includes two SIM cards.
Recharging either SIM adds credit to the other, so that when a male member of
the family tops up this can also benefit a female member. Telenor India is now
evaluating rollout of the project to other circles with similar challenges.
Entrepreneurship and work: LaborVoices
LaborVoices helps employers identify and solve problems in their supply chains
before they become critical by enabling them to instantly poll workers on their
safety and working conditions through their mobile phones. The users (workers)
can call into LaborVoices SmartLine and answer a series of questions about
issues that interest the supplier, such as wages, health, safety, child labour and
abuse. Users can call into the system 24x7 free of charge and leave feedback
using their mobile phone keypad. This data can be translated into meaningful
insights for the employers. LaborVoices is active in several countries in the
region, including Bangladesh and China.
29
3
Mobile a key driver
of growth and job
creation in India
30
| Mobile a key driver of growth and job creation in India
3.1 The economic contribution of the mobile
ecosystem in 2014
The direct economic contribution to GDP of mobile
network operators and the mobile ecosystem is
calculated as the value added generated by companies
operating in the mobile ecosystem in India. In 2014, the
total value added generated by the mobile ecosystem
was INR250,000 crore (2% of GDP), with the greatest
economic contribution among all mobile ecosystem
players coming from mobile operators, with a total
direct impact of INR126,000 crore, or around 1% of GDP.
Beyond mobile network operators, India has a solid and
vibrant mobile ecosystem, with all the four ecosystem
industries considered in our analysis generating
significant economic activity in 2014:
• the fast-growing mobile content and apps services
sector generated nearly INR22,000 crore in 2014
• the largely established and consolidated Indian
mobile towers and infrastructure sector generated
just under INR30,000 crore
• the renascent Indian handset manufacturing sector
generated INR36,000 crore
• the still largely informal mobile retail sector
generated approximately INR37,000 crore in value
added.
Direct GDP contribution of the mobile ecosystem
INR crore; % 2014 GDP
126,000
1.00%
30,000
0.23%
Infrastructure
providers
Network
operators
36,000
37,000
0.28%
0.29%
Handset
manufacturers
Distributors and
retailers
22,000
0.17%
Content, applications
and other services
Mobile a key driver of growth and job creation in India |
31
As mobile operators and the ecosystem purchase
inputs and services from their providers in the supply
chain, a multiplier effect on other Indian businesses
is produced, generating sales and economic value
added in other sectors and industries. For example,
distribution and transport companies draw part of
their revenues from supporting the operations of
tower companies when upgrading and expanding
their mobile internet networks. The same effect can
be observed in many other sectors of the economy,
including energy, retail and professional services such
as finance or insurance. We conservatively estimate
that a value added of around INR50,000 crore (0.4% of
GDP) was generated through these indirect impacts in
India in 2014.
Finally, mobile technology has transformed the way
economic activity is carried out in many sectors of the
economy, easing ways of doing business and allowing
more efficient ways to communicate and access
information. The productivity impacts brought about by
the widespread adoption and use of mobile technology
by individuals, businesses and governments generated
approximately INR4.7 lakh crore in 2014, an estimated
3.7% of India’s GDP. Overall, considering direct, indirect
and productivity impacts, in 2014 the mobile industry
supported a total contribution of INR7.7 lakh crore to
the Indian economy in value added terms, equivalent to
6.1% of India’s total GDP.
Total (direct, indirect and productivity) contribution to GDP
INR lakh crore; % 2014 GDP
4.70
7.71
3.7%
1.24
1.26
0.50
6.1%
0.4%
1.0%
1.0%
Related
industries
Mobile
operators
Direct
32
Indirect
Productivity
Total
33
3.2 Employment contribution of the mobile
industry
In 2014 mobile operators and the ecosystem provided
direct employment to approximately 2.2 million people
in India. We estimate that approximately 1.9 million
people were employed in the informal sector through
the retail and distribution of mobile technology,
primarily mobile handsets. Formal employment in the
mobile ecosystem reached approximately 300,000
in 2014, with the largest employment numbers in
the content, applications and services sector, with
approximately 150,000 jobs. A large number of jobs in
this sector are on a part-time or self-employed basis17.
Indian mobile network operators also employ a
significant amount of people, estimated at 67,000 in
2014. Handset manufacturers and the formal retail
sector (large retailers, small chains and increasingly also
general retailers) generated slightly lower numbers of
jobs (46,000 and 33,000 jobs respectively), although
the figures in both cases could increase in the next
few years if emerging trends continue. A number of
mobile manufacturers have reported plans to open or
strengthen their presence in India, while the formal
retail sector is also growing and expanding faster than
traditional retailing.
Further to the employment that is sustained within
the ecosystem, additional jobs were also indirectly
supported in other industries, as the ecosystem
generated demand and jobs in other sectors that
benefit from the activity of the mobile industry, in
particular in the direct supply chain. We estimate that in
2014 around 1.9 million jobs were indirectly supported
in this way, bringing the total impact (both direct and
indirect) of the mobile industry to around 4 million jobs
in 2014.
17. IAMAI, ICRIER (2015) recently estimated that 75,000 app development jobs existed in India in 2014. We have not verified the robustness of that figure. The estimate presented here of 150,000 jobs includes, in
addition to application development jobs, other jobs directly supported by the mobile content and services segment such as admin, research, media and advertisement jobs.
34
Total employment impact of the mobile industry
(000s of jobs)
1,900
4,000
Other economic
sectors
Total
1,900
300
Mobile ecosystem
(formal sector)
Formal
employment
in the mobile
ecosystem
Mobile ecosystem
(informal sector)
151,000
Content, applications and services
67,000
Operators
46,000
Handset manufacturing
33,000
Distribution and retail (formal sector)
12,000
Infrastructure
35
3.3 Public funding contribution in 2014
The mobile ecosystem also makes a highly significant
contribution to the funding of the Indian public sector,
with approximately INR1.1 lakh crore in 2014. This
contribution comprised INR57,000 crore in general
taxation, INR31,000 crore in mobile-specific taxation18,
and payments of INR19,040 crore for the licencing of
spectrum acquired through the 900 MHz and 1800 MHz
auctions in 201419.
18. Regulatory fees in the form of the universal service obligation, licence fees and spectrum fees.
19. Note that the total amount of spectrum payments required for the licencing of 900 MHz and 1800 MHz spectrum auctioned in 2014 is higher, at over INR61,000 crore in total. The figure attributed to 2014 above is
only a fraction of the overall figure and reflects the actual cash payment required from Indian operators in the year, with the remainder of the total cost required in subsequent years.
36
Total contribution to the funding of Indian public sector, mobile
ecosystem
INR crore, 2014
19,000
107,000
31,000
57,000
General taxation
General
taxation
Payments for spectrum
auctions in 2014
Mobile specific taxation
41%
Mobile services VAT
36%
Corporation tax
22%
Handset VAT
1%
Total
Employee income and social security
Note: Spectrum payments reflect actual cash payment required from Indian operators in 2014,
with over INR61,000 crore required in total.
The above contribution in 2014 does not include
payments expected from mobile operators as a result
of the multi-band spectrum auctions in March 2015
involving 800, 900, 1800 and 2100 MHz, which should
generate in total for the Indian government more than
INR1 lakh crore from mobile operators20.
20.There is a one-off upfront payment; operators then have the option of paying the balance in 10 annual instalments, after a two-year payment moratorium
37
3.4 Outlook and trends for 2015−2020
In the period to 2020, there will be growth
across all of the key economic impact
measures considered for the mobile industry
in this report: economic value added,
employment supported and the contribution
to the funding of the public sector.
38
In value added terms, a total economic value of INR14
lakh crore will be generated by 2020 in the form of
salaries, profits and tax payments, almost double the
figure for 2014. This increased contribution reflects the
fact that the mobile ecosystem will experience faster
growth than the rest of the economy. As a result, the
total contribution of mobile technology as a percentage
of GDP is forecast to increase from 6.1% in 2014 to 8.2%
in 2020. There could be upside to these forecasts if
both the government and regulators adopt some of the
enablers outlined in this report, and if the key ambitions
of the Digital India programme are realised.
Most of this growth will be driven by the boost to
business productivity and economic output resulting
from previously unconnected citizens becoming firsttime internet users, with virtually all of this additional
connectivity provided through mobile networks.
Internet connectivity is directly linked to greater
productivity and economic growth, and the large
increase in the number of internet users will be the key
driver of the transformation in the productivity of the
Indian economy over this period. There may be upside
to these forecasts if a more supportive regulatory
environment is put in place and this helps realise the
government’s Digital India initiative.
Outlook to 2020
8.2%
6.1%
7.7
2014
8.6
2015
9.7
2016
Total value added
(INR lakh crore)
The total number of jobs both directly and indirectly
supported by the ecosystem will also grow significantly
in the period to 2020. The numbers will increase to
just over 3 million and 2 million respectively by 2020.
The public funding contribution of the mobile
ecosystem will reach more than INR120,000 crore
by 2020 in real terms if tax rates and regulatory
fee rates remain at current levels, up from just just
10.7
2017
11.8
2018
12.8
2019
14.0
2020
Percentage of GDP
contribution
under INR90,000 crore in 2014. This figure is in
all likelihood an underestimate of the future total
contribution of the mobile ecosystem to the funding
of the Indian public sector, since it does not include
the proportional part of payments from the 2014
and 2015 auctions, as well as the proceeds from any
future spectrum auctions that may occur between
2015 and 2020.
39
4
Regulatory enablers
for Digital India
India’s policy-makers and mobile operators share
a common agenda. The government’s Digital India
programme, which is aiming to transform the country
into a digitally empowered society and knowledge
economy, is closely aligned with the goals of the
country’s mobile industry. Creating a Digital India
depends on giving both entrepreneurs and employees
high-quality connectivity. India’s mobile operators are
striving to extend broadband to many more people
and communities. Faced with challenging economics
and terrain, mobile operators need a regulatory
environment that attracts investors and encourages
innovation.
40
| Regulatory enablers for Digital India
There are a number of key steps that policy-makers
can take to create a forward-looking, flexible and fair
regulatory and licensing framework:
• Make sufficient internationally harmonised spectrum
available on reasonable terms.
• Remove barriers to network infrastructure
deployments.
• Adjust taxes and licence fees to increase the
affordability of mobile broadband services and the
ability of operators to invest in their networks.
• Level the playing field between Internet players and
telecoms operators.
4.1 The fundamental importance of spectrum
To maximise the economic and social benefits for
India’s citizens, spectrum needs to be in the hands
of those able to use it most productively. To date,
India has allocated significantly less spectrum per
subscriber than most other countries, either developed
or developing, to mobile services. With a modest
allocation of spectrum split between 12 licensees, it is
difficult for individual mobile operators to meet peak
demand for traffic on their networks.
Source: GSMA Intelligence, DoT
Spectrum assignment in India
700 MHz band
850 MHz band
2 x 45 MHz
900 MHz band
2 x 20 MHz
2100 MHz band
2 x 60 MHz
1800 MHz band
2 x 25 MHz
2300 MHz band
100 MHz
Spectrum allocated
in India for mobile
services
2 x 75 MHz
2500 MHz band
2 x 70 MHz
50 MHz
Spectrum internationally
identified for mobile
services but not yet
allocated in India
Note : Values based on averages across circles
Regulatory enablers for Digital India |
41
Source: GSMA Intelligence, DoT
Spectrum licensed to mobile operators in selected
Asia Pacific countries
MHz band
700/800
850/900
1800
2100
2300
2500
2x33.1
2x44.9
2x23.6
1x40
1x12.7
2x34.8
2x74.8
2x60
South Korea
2x35
2x20 &
2x50**
2x60
Philippines
2x45
2x75
2x35
Indonesia
2x46
2x75
2x50**
Cambodia
2x40.4
2x75
2x60
2x30 &
2x35***
2x60
2x60
2x45.8
2x75
2x60
India
Turkey
Taiwan
2x30*
2x45
Vietnam
Best practice
Average
2x60 & 1x40
1x57
2x20
1x95
1x30
Planned
2x70 & 1x50
Below average
*European band plan
** Additional 2x10 MHz will be auctioned
*** Asymmetric assignment for uplink and downlink frequencies
(Note: Allocation for India is average spectrum assigned per service area)
In India, fast increasing use of mobile broadband,
applications, content and services means mobile
operators are going to need to be able to employ
significantly more spectrum than they do today. If
42
sufficient spectrum is not available, mobile networks
will become increasingly congested, frustrating
consumers and curbing companies’ productivity.
4.1.1 Licensing more internationally harmonised
spectrum
India’s mobile operators still have access to only a
fraction of the spectrum that has been identified
globally for mobile services. Although the government
is set to provide additional spectrum before the end
of the current financial year, more spectrum will be
needed in the near future.
The amount of spectrum required in each national
market varies depending on levels of data demand and
national priorities, but the GSMA’s research suggests
that, on average, a total of 1600–1800 MHz should
be identified for mobile services. Given the density
of major cities in India, and its technology-savvy
population, the GSMA believes the spectrum available
for mobile services in India needs to be at the high end
of this range. Unlicensed spectrum is not an adequate
substitute, as it creates an uneven playing field and
can quickly become congested, leading to interference
between services.
By 2020 more than half a billion mobile connections in
India will be running on mobile broadband networks.
Achieving this figure, and ensuring further growth
in future, will depend on mobile operators gaining
access to additional spectrum, especially in the 2100
MHz band. The government needs to take urgent
steps to migrate current users, mainly defence, from
the 2100 MHz band to make the remaining spectrum
available for mobile communications in line with the
internationally harmonised band plan. It is encouraging
that the government has indicated its intention to
make more spectrum in this band available. India also
needs to harmonise the 1800 MHz band, which is highly
fragmented.
The next step is to prepare a clear roadmap for the
release of the 700 MHz band for mobile services,
which is already being deployed in some countries.
This low-frequency spectrum, structured in line with
the Asia-Pacific Telecommunity (APT) band plan, can
enable cost-effective coverage of large geographic
areas, so will play an important role in extending mobile
broadband coverage. Contrary to most markets, in India
this band is not occupied by broadcasting and can
therefore be made available for mobile usage. This is
an advantage that India should capitalise on to ensure
the full frequency (2 x 45 MHz) is licensed to expand
mobile coverage across the country. To increase digital
inclusion, India’s policy-makers should also consider
offering subsidies, such as a reduction in licensee fees,
to operators that achieve a specific coverage threshold.
A key constraint for operators is that reserve prices in
India have historically been set on the high side. As a
general rule, new spectrum needs to be licensed via
a well-designed auction process with a reasonable
reserve price. It is particularly important to make
available sufficient spectrum so that the auction
realises a true market price, rather than an excessive
price driven by scarcity. The more mobile operators
pay to license spectrum, the less money they have
available to build out networks. As the digital economy
becomes increasingly important to India’s future
prosperity, the government needs to prioritise the
rollout of broadband over plugging short-term gaps in
the fiscal deficit.
43
4.1.2 Preparing for the next decade
Looking further out, India will also need to make more
internationally harmonised spectrum available to fulfil
its Digital India ambitions. Given the time it can take for
spectrum to be allocated, cleared and then licensed,
the World Radiocommunication Conference 2015
(WRC-15) plays a critical role in determining whether
mobile broadband services can continue to drive socioeconomic growth over the next decade. As a major
player on the global stage, India will be an influential
voice at WRC-15, which is charged with identifying
additional spectrum for mobile broadband by 2020 and
beyond.
The GSMA is proposing that WRC-15 identify four
frequency ranges to mobile broadband:
• Sub-700 MHz UHF (470–694 MHz): In countries
with a large geographic area such as India, the
spectrum below 700 MHz will be important
for providing extensive and affordable mobile
broadband coverage in rural areas beyond 2020. This
band is already allocated to mobile services in AsiaPacific. Licensing these bands for mobile services,
thereby preventing interference and wasting
valuable frequencies, is the most efficient way to
harness this valuable spectrum for the greater good.
• L-band (1350−1400 MHz and 1427–1518 MHz): This
band is capable of delivering additional capacity and
coverage over relatively large areas, including inside
buildings. It is the most supported band across all
continents, with some European countries already
auctioning part of the band in 2015. This band has
the potentially to be harmonised globally, generating
major economies of scale for the mobile industry and
its customers.
44
• 2.7–2.9 GHz: This band, which is underutilised,
particularly in South Asia, would provide important
extra mobile capacity, and its proximity to 2.6 GHz
will facilitate the fast deployment of extra capacity to
the existing cell sites.
• C-band (3.4–3.8 GHz and 3.8−4.2 GHz): The size
of this band offers a unique opportunity to identify
a significant portion to deliver very fast mobile
broadband services in India’s dense urban areas.
A WRC-15 decision to allocate these bands for mobile
services is essential for subsequent international
harmonization that will lower the cost of equipment,
enable roaming and reduce international interference.
At the same time, national administrations will have the
flexibility to release the amount they choose to meet
national demand when necessary.
As the mobile ecosystem needs time to develop
appropriate devices and network equipment, it is
important for the government to publish a spectrum
roadmap that provides clarity for the industry and
investors. India’s device manufacturing industry will
also benefit from a clear spectrum roadmap, bolstering
the government’s ‘Make in India’ initiative and
strengthening the country’s manufacturing base.
4.1.3 Liberalising the spectrum market
One of the key factors holding back uptake and
usage of mobile broadband in India is spectrum
fragmentation. The 1800 MHz band, for example, is
highly fragmented. Some operators have 5 MHz blocks
of spectrum, which cannot be effectively used for LTE
service. The introduction of a well-designed spectrum
trading and sharing framework would ensure that the
limited spectrum available for mobile services is used to
its full potential to the benefit of India’s consumers and
businesses.
Through spectrum trading and less restrictive spectrum
caps, mobile operators could assemble the contiguous
blocks of spectrum they need to provide mobile
broadband services efficiently and effectively. As
India’s regulators have noted, spectrum trading would
also provide a mechanism through which a telecoms
company could exit the sector, while enabling more
specific and targeted reallocations of spectrum than
can be reached through mergers and acquisitions.
Otherwise, some key blocks of spectrum will continue
to be underutilised.
The government of India has approved both Spectrum
Sharing and Spectrum Trading guidelines which could
help intensify the use of the mobile band frequency
resources to the benefit of society and consumers.
However, the government should avoid imposing
counterproductive licensing fees, while rules should
be sufficiently flexible to enable mobile operators to
efficiently match supply to demand. If India can fully
liberalise its spectrum market, there will be major
economic benefits, which will ultimately increase and
broaden the country’s tax base.
45
46
4.2 Building the networks India needs
Several obstacles are slowing the deployment of
broadband. These obstacles include limited availability
of power, the rules governing electromagnetic fields
(EMFs) and the patchwork of local regulations relating
to rights of way for building infrastructure. For India’s
consumers, this means gaps in coverage, dropped calls
and lower data rates.
Worldwide, many governments have introduced
initiatives to make it easier to deploy antenna sites. By
way of example, in January 2015 the US FCC adopted
the Acceleration of Broadband Deployment Report
and Order. This aims to streamline the construction
of antenna sites in many ways including providing
definitions for co-locations and modifications that
must be approved by states and municipalities. In
the UK, the government is consulting on measures to
improve coverage in rural areas, including allowing
taller structures. The federal and state governments
in Australia will invest about AUD190 million in
partnership with industry to deliver the first phase of
the Mobile Black Spot programme. This programme
will deliver new handheld coverage to 68,600 square
kilometres and new external antenna coverage to over
150,000 square kilometres. Over 5,700 kilometres of
major transport routes will receive new handheld or
external antenna coverage.
4.2.1 Addressing barriers to network
deployments
In an increasingly digital economy, the mobile industry
needs standardised guidelines, consistently enforced
throughout the country, for the deployment of base
stations and fibre.
telecoms network and ultimately the Internet. Again,
the procedures and charges for rights of way, which
can be very expensive and time-consuming, need to be
streamlined and standardised across India.
The first key step is to introduce explicit and consistent
planning approval processes for mobile base stations
across India, thereby ensuring networks can be
deployed without lengthy delays. The government
should consider introducing mechanisms to reduce
bureaucratic inefficiencies, including ‘one-stop shop’
approvals, fixed decision periods and simplified
procedures for co-locations and modifications
to existing sites. The costs of obtaining approval
certificates from municipalities have reportedly
increased by 500% in recent years and this should be
reviewed.
The government also needs to do more to ensure
telecoms networks have access to a reliable power
supply, particularly in rural areas, at preferential rates
that reflect the fundamental role of connectivity in
India’s economy and telecoms infrastructure sector
status. The Department of Telecommunications’
guidelines for state governments on the installation of
masts stress that electricity should be provided as a
priority, but in reality this often does not happen. The
decision of the Kerala State to allow mobile network
infrastructure to be established on government land
and buildings demonstrates how state governments
can reduce the barriers to network deployment.
India is now taking much-needed steps to simplify its
rights-of-way policies to enable faster deployment of
the cables required to connect base stations to the
47
4.2.2 Allaying health concerns
Highly restrictive regulations on EMF exposure also
constitute a major barrier to network deployments.
GSMA analysis21 with data from Telecom Italia (Italy)
and P4/Play (Poland) found that restrictive EMF
limits in those two countries result in €620 million
in additional capital expenditure and €127 million in
additional operating costs.
As India’s Minister of Communications and Information
Technology Ravi Shankar Prasad has recognised, there
is a need for clear and objective information about
the health effects of mobile radiation. India would
benefit from adopting global radiofrequency exposure
standards, which are designed to be protective of all
persons. In 2012 India reduced exposure limits for base
stations to one tenth of international guidelines.
Medical experts have debunked the view that India
needs special restrictions on EMF exposure beyond
those recommended by the World Health Organization.
“Radiation from mobiles and mobile towers pose no
threat to health or cause cancer as it is commonly
believed,” Delhi Medical Association president
Anil Agarwal said at a press conference held on 27
September 2014 at the India Habitat Centre in New
Delhi. “There are no empirical findings to establish
that mobile tower radiation causes cancer or any such
diseases. The radiation emitted is just too weak to be
harmful.” The current EMF research program being
coordinated by the Indian Science and Engineering
Research Board would benefit from greater
cooperation with international researchers who could
share their expertise on the specific methods needed
for high-quality EMF studies.
Earlier in 2014 a committee set up by order of the
High Court of Allahabad, Lucknow Bench, to look into
EMF radiation concerns found there was no conclusive
evidence of the dangers from mobile phone towers and
that greater efforts should be made to reduce fears
caused by misinformation.
21. Economic Impact of stricter EMF limits on the Rollout of Mobile Broadband Networks in Poland and Italy, GSMA, 2014
48
4.2.3 Making services more affordable
Although the country’s mobile industry is offering some
of the lowest tariffs in the world, the industry and its
customers pay a relatively high level of taxes and fees.
In India, consumer taxes are 23.3% of the total cost of
mobile ownership, while mobile-specific taxes account
for 10.3% of the total cost of mobile ownership22. As
affordable devices and services are crucial to delivering
the Digital India programme, the government needs to
consider how to phase out sector-specific taxes and
fees that increase prices for consumers and weaken the
business case for deploying broadband infrastructure.
In general, the revenue raised through taxation on
digital services and devices is likely to be less than
the broader economic returns resulting from greater
adoption and usage. Excessive taxation limits the
positive impact of mobile broadband on economic
and social development, employment, productivity
and the lives of citizens. For example, spectrum usage
charges are superfluous and harmful when the value of
spectrum is already being more than captured by the
auction mechanism.
The government should also review the universal
service fund (USF) mechanism to determine whether
it is effectively supporting the provision of broadband.
Research by the GSMA has found that many universal
service funds set up to support the rollout of
broadband actually have the opposite effect, as they
typically levy fees on the telecoms sector and damage
the business case for investment in new infrastructure.
Through levies on operators, India’s USF has already
accumulated significant funds (with a balance of over
INR40,000 crore as of September 201523). Although
government agencies are now using some of these
funds to deploy a fibre-optic network, the money
could be more efficiently and effectively used to
provide financial incentives to telecoms operators to
expand coverage. India has one of the world’s highest
USF levies at 5% of operators’ revenues compared to,
for example, 1% in Brazil and 2% in Colombia. Given
the large funds accumulated to date, the rate of the
revenue-based charges should ideally be reduced.
22. Digital inclusion and mobile sector taxation 2015, GSMA, 2015
23. Source: Universal Service Obligation Fund (USOF), Department of Telecommunications
49
4.3 Ensuring a level playing field
India’s licensing and regulatory framework was
designed at a time when the Internet was just
emerging, there were no smartphones and hardly any
of the new online communication service platforms.
This framework needs to be adapted for a Digital Age in
which many industries and sectors are now overlapping
and converging. To provide clarity for consumers and
enable fair competition, governments around the world
need to pursue regulatory neutrality, whereby the same
services are governed by the same rules.
India needs to modernise its regulatory framework to
treat equivalent services in the same way, providing
the same level of protection for consumers and not
disadvantaging a particular type of provider.
4.3.1 The impact of online communications
services
The widespread deployment of mobile broadband
networks is enabling online communications services
to provide voice calls, messaging, content and other
services in competition with mobile operators. Several
of these services have become major players in the
Indian market, and have begun to erode the voice
and messaging revenues that mobile operators rely
on to support and facilitate the rollout and expansion
of broadband services. For example, India has nearly
100 million WhatsApp users, more than a tenth of the
global user base.
In the absence of a fair regulatory and commercial
solution, particularly for online communications
services, India’s telecoms networks will not attract
sufficient investment and this could delay realising the
vision of the Digital India programme. Competition
from online communications services has led to a
significant decline in revenue for telecoms operators.
The operators are, at the same time, investing heavily
in networks and the acquisition of spectrum, while
paying licence fees and spectrum usage charges, to
50
meet the escalating demand for connectivity. Online
communication services are not subject to the same
level of costs of doing business.
There is also a significant imbalance in the regulatory
requirements that apply to telecoms operators and new
online communications services. These include record
keeping and interconnection, adherence to quality of
service, security safeguards, connectivity to emergency
services, transparency, lawful interception, privacy and
other requirements. These regulatory obligations apply
to telecoms operators, but not to the new entrants
providing similar services.
In light of these major disparities, India needs to
modernise its regulatory framework so that no
single entity or type of entity is at a disadvantage. A
single, consistently applied framework covering all
competitors, regardless of the technology they use
or the type of provider, should govern India’s digital
service providers.
4.3.2 Net neutrality – getting the balance right
A key factor in determining whether India can fulfil its
digital ambitions will be its approach to net neutrality
– the subject of an ongoing government consultation.
The concept of net neutrality means different things
to different stakeholders. For India’s mobile operators,
net neutrality refers to the principle that the Internet
should be an open platform for freedom of expression,
innovation and socio-economic development. In this
context, regulators’ primary objective should be to
maintain an open Internet in which service diversity,
competition and consumer choice are paramount.
4.3.3 Traffic management is essential
To deliver the breadth and quality of services
customers want, mobile operators need to be able
to manage their networks efficiently. In practice, that
means different types of traffic have to be treated
differently. It is unrealistic and counterproductive to
treat real-time services such as video and voice calls in
the same way as delay-tolerant services such as email
and messaging. If every data packet waits in the same
queue, regardless of the service requirements, the
consumer experience will suffer as calls will drop and
video will buffer.
Traffic management can also improve the enduser experience in other ways. For example, mobile
operators can optimise video services by compressing
data, adapting content for mobile screens, while
reducing the cost to the consumer. In India, where
spectrum is scarce and networks are congested, video
compression is a key tool for mobile operators.
There are many other reasons why some data traffic
needs to be managed. These include blocking illegal
content, meeting security safeguards, protection of
minors and prevention of spam. Traffic management
may also be used to route calls to emergency services,
take appropriate action when a customer exceeds their
contractual data-usage allowance, or to offer charging
models that allow customers to choose the service or
application they want.
Traffic management may also be used to provide
higher quality services to organisations that need
highly reliable or low latency connectivity. As
healthcare providers, automotive manufacturers, local
governments, transport providers and many other
companies increasingly harness connectivity to serve
their customers better, mobile operators need to
ensure they can deliver the requisite quality of service.
Regulators also need to bear in mind that traffic
management is an evolving discipline, characterised
by continual innovation to efficiently utilise network
capacity and ensure quality for the end user. Mobile
operators complement their investment in network
capacity with active network management.
Active network management does not, of course, mean
that the Internet is distorted or that customers are not
able to enjoy content, services and applications of their
choice. Traffic management does not imply blocking a
specific content or application provider on the network.
It simply means that services work better and networks
run more efficiently. Regulations that prohibit traffic
management, or prescribe a limited set of permissible
cases, simply aren’t future-proof and could harm
innovation, investments and the quality of experience
for users.
51
4.3.4 The case for commercial flexibility
An overly congested or degraded network is not in
the interests of operators or end users. The internet
is typically a two-sided market and operators should
have the flexibility to offer commercial propositions to
both sides, namely end-users and third-party content
and application providers. Different pricing models
associated with different service attributes should not
be viewed as harmful to consumers. The availability of
a variety of service packages – that combine different
prices, quality and bundled content – increases the
choice available to consumers and allows them to
choose the package that best suits them. The freedom
to agree commercial arrangements with other content
and application providers, through managed services
and zero-rated practices, encourages the development
of innovative services and sustainable business models.
Such commercial models are common business
practices in other industries, promoting competition
and generally enhancing economic efficiency and
societal welfare. For example, the zero-rating of
specific services, where data usage related to a specific
service (e.g. video streaming) does not count against
an end-user’s data consumption allowance or result
in metered data consumption charges, can encourage
consumers to use the Internet and to try new services
without worrying about data consumption costs. Zero
rating and sponsored data models are aligned with the
principle of the open Internet and benefit consumers
and competition.
4.3.5 Competition is proving effective
The competitive mobile market in India is delivering
choice, innovation and value-for-money for consumers.
A competitive market, rather than ex-ante regulation,
is the best way to ensure that the internet remains
a platform for growth and innovation. At this stage,
when the technologies, services and commercial
models of the internet ecosystem are evolving, the
best way to deal with the debate on net neutrality
52
in India is to let the market find balanced solutions
to meet consumer expectations. Operators should
continue to have the flexibility to offer a variety
of tariffs to consumers and agree commercial
arrangements with content and application providers.
The existing legal and regulatory framework in India
provides authorities with adequate safeguards to
address potential concerns that may arise.
To download the Mobile Economy India 2015 report
please visit the GSMA website at www.gsmamobileeconomy.com
GSMA Head Office
Floor 2
The Walbrook Building
25 Walbrook
London EC4N 8AF
United Kingdom
Tel: +44 (0)207 356 0600
Fax: +44 (0)20 7356 0601

The Mobile Economy - GSMA Intelligence

Transcription

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